Jolyon Palmer continued his strong pre-season testing form by setting the fifth fastest time on day one of the second pre-season GP2 test at the Bahrain International Circuit today (Wednesday).

The 22-year-old was 14th fastest in the morning session, but picked up the pace in the afternoon to go fifth overall, just 0.165s off the best time set by Alexander Rossi's Caterham.

The three day test continues tomorrow at 9am local time.

Speaking after the day's running, Jolyon commented: "We struggled a bit with consistency at the start of the day on the dusty track but worked hard on the set up. In the end I'm very happy with the progress we made and to finish fifth and only one tenth off the pace is not bad. There's plenty more in there and we will keep trying to find more tomorrow."

GP2 Pre-Season Testing, Bahrain, Day 1

1. Alexander Rossi, Caterham, 1m40.604s
2. Daniel Abt, Hilmer, +0.012s
3. Mitch Evans, RUSSIAN TIME, +0.076s
4. Conor Daly, Venezuela GP Lazarus, +0.130s
5. Jolyon Palmer, DAMS, +0.165s
6. Johnny Cecotto, Trident, +0.225s
7. Raffaele Marciello, Racing Engineering, +0.328s
8. Vittorio Ghirelli, Trident, +0.372s
9. Felipe Nasr, Carlin, +0.418s
10. Stoffel Vandoorne, ART, +0.437s